Kids and Race

A 1997 Time/CNN poll of 1,282 adults and 601 teens (ages 12-17) found some dramatic changes among the views of both black and white youths on race from those held by their parents. They indicated in their survey responses that race is less important to them than to their parents, both on a personal level and as a social divide. More than half of both white and black teenage respondents still considered racism a “big problem” in America; however, more than one-third classified it as a “small problem.” Asked about the impact of racism in their own lives, 89% of black teens called it a “small problem” or “not a problem at all.”  In fact, white adults and white teens were more convinced than black teens that racism in America remained a dominant issue.

In addition, black teens were more reluctant than others to blame racism for problems. Nearly twice as many black respondents as white believe “failure to take advantage of available opportunities” is more a problem for blacks than discrimination.  (“This is especially extraordinary given the fact that 40% of the black teens surveyed believed that STATs are loaded against them, and that blacks have to be better qualified than whites to get a job” according to Time magazine’s Christopher John Farley.)

Sociologist Joe Feagin views the reactions of teens to this survey on race as an indicator of hope (on one hand) and youthful naiveté (on the other). He points out that “One word explains it—experience? You have to be out looking for jobs and housing to know how much discrimination is out there. People doing that are usually over 19.” (In support of this view, only 25% of black teens surveyed said they had been victims of discrimination, whereas half of black adults say they have.)

Farley points out that extensive interviews with children, parents, educators, researchers, and law enforcement officials indicate that the new optimism among teens has occurred against a backdrop of a number of new challenges (e.g., the growing presence of hate groups on the Internet) and old ones (e.g., interracial dating and ethnic turf wars). The hope expressed by teens involved in the survey sometimes flies in the face of pessimism and racial intolerance teenagers hear expressed by their elders. At the same time, the continued deprivation of so many black families in wrecked city neighborhoods poses another challenge to improved relationships between whites and blacks.

While the results of this survey provide hope for the future, it is one that must be tempered by today’s realities.

Source

Farley, Christopher John. “Kids and Race.”   Time (November 24, 1997): 88-91.

NOTE: This Media Awareness Network article provides an interesting perspective on children’s perceptions of race in the media:

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/research_documents/reports/diversity/different_world.cfm